Blind
by fortheweightofus
Summary: And he wonders how he never saw it before. T for safety
1. Chapter 1

I would like to say I was not affected in the least. But who am I kidding?

I'm alone now, and I won't lie, I'm in shock. I've just seen what no over-protective best friend should ever see. I'm so mad I can barely think. Those rotten, low-life freaks! How could they do that to him? Their own _son_!

Wow, I'm starting to sound like Lily. But even the thought of her, beautiful, charming Lily, can't distract me right now. I feel sick. I really, really want to vomit.

They hurt him. They hurt him _bad_. Just thinking about it and I'm mad all over again. how could they? How. Could. They?

Don't understand? Let me paint the picture for you.

_I looked at the clock. It was nearly one in the morning. _

_"Who on earth would ring at this hour?" I mumbled sleepily, pulling on my shoes and stumbling down the stairs to the door. Mum and Dad are still asleep. I should let them rest. They had a long day at the ministry._

_I feel my way down the dark hallway, silently cursing whatever imbecile wanted to come knocking so late. Why couldn't they just call tomorrow?_

_As I'm turning the doorknob and yawning, the realization hits me like a bucket of ice water straight to the face. What am I DOING? I'm such an idiot! Why on earth would someone come calling so early? Ding, ding, ding, Death eaters! Boy, am I STUPID!_

_I left my wand upstairs. I LEFT MY WAND UPSTAIRS. Damn, I'm scared! Should I run? Should I hide?_

_I'm going to die, and I know it. _

_Then I see who it is leaning heavily against the porch railing, and all my worries disappear._

_Not in the good, blissful oblivion kind of way. In the oh-holy-shit-what-happened-to-my-best-friend kind of way._

_Sirius is covered in blood. And not the cheap fake blood muggles wear at Halloween. I'm talking real, dark red and sticky blood. It's everywhere. His shirt is torn and completely soaked through with the foul crimson stuff. There is a livid bruise forming around his left eye, and two more on his neck that made it look like someone had tried to strangle him (which, horribly, is not such a wild theory)._

_There's a fraction of a second where Sirius looks at me and I look at him. Even his big grey eyes don't seem to have escaped injury. One was going black and the other had tears of blood dripping slowly from it._

_I can't move. I can't speak. My heart is going a thousand miles an hour. I see the haunted look in my best friend's eyes, the terror and the immense sorrow._

_Then Sirius collapses._

_I don't remember screaming. But I must have, for my parents came rushing down the stairs, wands at the ready. My mum lets out a kind of soft shriek when she sees Sirius, and she and Dad rush to his side. I can't move. I stand frozen in the doorway. There's so much blood. _

_Somehow something I must've read once jumps into the front of my mind. If you can lie in a pool of your own blood, you're dead. Sirius looks like he's pretty close to that point._

_He can't die. Sirius can't die. Sirius CAN'T die!_

_I drop to my knees beside my unconscious best friend, screaming my heart out at him. "YOU CAN'T DIE ON ME, YOU BLOODY PRAT!" I sob hysterically. "YOU CAN'T DIE ON ME!"_

_My mum takes me in her arms, and I'm crying like there's no tomorrow. Sirius can't die. Sirius can't die._

_"Who-who do you think you are?" I wail, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him, his blood staining my hands. "Who d-do you think y- you are that y-you c-c-can just leave me, Sirius Black! D-DON'T YOU DARE D-D-DIE ON ME!"_

_My dad pries me away from him and carries Sirius upstairs. Mum helps me up, and we follow. I'm still screaming bloody murder, cursing black and blue, refusing to let my best friend in the world die in my house. _

Well, thank the Lord, he isn't dead.

Sirius is asleep upstairs at the moment. Mum and Dad (and me, of course) bandaged him up as best we could. The bleeding's stopped. But I am far from over this. FAR, far from over it.

Sirius talks in his sleep. That's how I know what happened.

He and his father got into an argument, and his dad totally lost it. I know my dad and I fight sometimes, but he's never laid a hand on me once in his life. And mum…well, mum doesn't usually go around picking fights.

But from the sound of it, Sirius's parents are completely different.

He was screaming. Screaming in his sleep. Screaming for them not to hurt him.

I couldn't take it anymore, which is why I'm downstairs in our kitchen instead of his bedside. I think I totally broke down at one point, and mum decided that it was time to kick me out.

I wish she hadn't done that. Because now I have only my chaotic thoughts for company.

Chaotic thought number one: How the HELL did I not realize this sooner?

Sirius is my best friend in the entire world. No, he's more than that. He's my brother. And I never noticed a damn thing about the kind of abuse he was going through at home. Why? Because I'm a bloody idiot.

Yes, I know, you're probably in shock. James Potter, an idiot? It _does_ sound impossible.

But it's not. I let my brother get abused to the worst extent by his own flesh-and-blood. I swallowed all his lies about tree-climbing or falling down the stairs when he came back from the summer holidays with bruises and cuts. I never questioned why he never talked about his parents, or why they never came to see him off at the start-of-term. They were Blacks, what more did I need to know? I would be ashamed of my family, too.

I let it happen. I let him go home every summer. I should have stopped him. I should have made him stay at our house until school started again.

Of course, he did visit a lot during the holidays. But he shouldn't have had to return.

In case you haven't noticed, there is a lot of hate inside me right now.

I hate the Blacks. I hate them with more passion than I've ever hated before. They are cruel, abusive pureblood maniacs who don't deserve to live. If it was up to me, I would march down to their house right now and beat the shit out of them, to put it eloquently. I am not even joking.

But most of all, I hate myself. I hate myself for not realizing this before. I could have prevented this. Sirius could have died all because I was too blind to help him.

I try to convince myself that it's not my fault. I couldn't have known. I had no reason to doubt Sirius. After all, he is my best friend. I would trust him with my life. I can't blame myself for being trusting.

Who am I kidding?


	2. Chapter 2

Sirius stumbled up the steps of a handsome cottage in the village of Godric's Hollow.

His breath was coming in huge, searing gasps, and his vision was dotted with black. Reaching up a violently trembling hand, he just managed to ring the doorbell, before leaning heavily on the porch rail for support.

What was he thinking? If James didn't forgive him, he would die right here, on this very porch. He had no strength left in him, he felt as though his lungs were closing up. James had to forgive him. He didn't have anywhere else to go.

A crack of golden light appeared as the door was eased open. There stood none other than James Potter, his black hair sticking up in every direction imaginable. Just like Sirius remembered him. Upon seeing his best friend, James's jaw dropped, his hazel eyes wide with horror. Sirius tried to take a step forward, but collapsed, what little energy he had left sapped. He felt a pair of arms catch him as he fell, and he heard someone scream for help. But they're too late, he thought. I'm dead. And the darkness reached out to take him once more; he would do nothing to stop it. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, and then all went black.

Bright light shone down upon Sirius, making the inside of his eyelids glow red. He felt so peaceful, lying on something soft and white. Had he died? Was this heaven? He opened his eyes a fraction of a centimeter, and felt pain shoot through his entire body. Oh no, this wasn't heaven. In heaven, there was no pain.

Forcing himself to open his eyes a little wider, he saw blurry shapes surrounding him, talking in low whispers. One of them turned to him and exclaimed, "Look, Dad, he's waking up!"

Do I know these people? Sirius asked himself groggily. The shapes came into focus. James, Mrs. Potter, and Mr. Potter were all sitting by his bedside. James leaned forward, placing a gentle hand on his arm. "How do you feel, mate?" he asked softly.

Sirius tried to sit up, but James pushed him back down again. "Don't try to move just yet, son, "Mr. Potter advised."You've been through a lot tonight, and we wouldn't want it to get any worse." Sirius blinked, sure he was dreaming. "Am…am I dead?" he croaked weakly. Mrs. Potter took his hand, her eyes sparkling with tears. "No, sweetheart," she said soothingly. "You've been hurt very badly, but you're going to get better, I promise."

"What-what am I d-doing here?" Sirius wheezed, trying once again to sit up. "I…I thought…" "Shh," Mrs. Potter said. "You collapsed on our doorstep, dear. James caught you and called for help. I fixed you up as best I could. You've been unconscious for about three hours now." Sirius felt a rush of guilt. "I'm sorry, ma'am," he said quietly. "I didn't mean to-to pass out like that. I'm sorry for k-keeping you all up so late."

James whacked him on the arm. "James, don't hit him!" his parents cried. James had tears streaming down his face. "You-you b-b-bloody prat!" James sobbed. "You-you had me scared to death and you're apologizing for keeping us up late?"

Sirius attempted at a grin. "S-sorry for scaring you, then." Then in a more serious tone, he looked James straight in the eyes and whispered, "I really am sorry, James. For-for everything." James wiped at his eyes, and nodded. "I know, mate. I forgive you." Sirius looked away, his own eyes stinging with tears. "You shouldn't."

Mr. and Mrs. Potter exchanged looks. "We'll just give you boys a moment," Mrs. Potter said gently, standing up and leaving the room. Mr. Potter followed suit.

For a moment all was silent. Then James looked at Sirius and said in a voice constricted with pain, "Why didn't you tell me, Sirius?" Sirius did his best to look confused, though he felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. "Tell you what?"

James glared at him, but there was sorrow in his eyes. "You know what I'm talking about, Sirius," he snapped. "Why didn't you tell me your family beats you?" "My family doesn't beat me," Sirius said automatically, but then saw the look in James's eyes and sighed. "How did you find out?"

"You talk in your sleep."

To James's surprise, Sirius laughed humorlessly. "Of course. All my years spent trying to hide it from everyone, and it gets out because I talk in my sleep." He laughed again, but it could not have been plainer that he was almost brought to tears. James placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "But why would you want to keep it a secret, Sirius?" he asked beseechingly. "If you had told us earlier, this never would have happened!"

"There's no use moping," Sirius said quietly. "I didn't want anyone to know because I thought they would think I was weak." "No one would have made fun of you, Sirius," James said gently. "I wouldn't have. And if anyone did, you know I would've hexed them into next week."

Sirius smiled weakly. After a moment of silence, he blurted out, "What do I do now, James? I just ran away. James, I-I ran away." There was an agitated gleam in his eyes. "I have no money. I have nobody that will take me in, well, Andy might but she's just married and I wouldn't want to ask that of her-Ow! What was that for?" James had whacked him again. "You idiot," he said, shaking his head. "You're staying with us, of course."

Sirius's big grey eyes went even wider. "Really?" he squeaked. "James, I couldn't ask that of you, it's too much to ask of anyone-" "Do me a favor," James said, grinning. "Shut up."

Sirius had to laugh. When he stopped, he turned to James, his eyes glowing, "You mean it, James? You really mean it?" James nodded. Sirius had no words to say. Abruptly, James pulled him into a hug. Sirius sniffled, blinking back tears. "Thank you," he said softly. "Thank you so much."

**Author's Note: ****Well, that's the second chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed it. I wasn't actually going to update after the first chapter, but I got so many requests (okay, maybe just three or so) so I decided to continue. Will there be another chapter? I don't know, you tell me! Sound off if you want one ;). **


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